What Darkness Brings to Light
by AndiKaneUnderwood
Summary: "I thought I'd never see you again."


What Darkness Brings to Light

By: AndiKaneUnderwood

 **Sequel to "Why?" prompted by sue2556.**

 **Prompt: "I thought I'd never see you again."**

 **Enjoy!**

Steve knew it would happen one day.

One day, his enemy at the time would be smart enough to figure out things Steve kept carefully hidden beneath training and masks.

One day, his team would be used against him.

One day, _to_ day, his ohana would be in jeopardy and it would be Steve who'd put them in such a position.

Steve had already rescued Chin, Kono, and Catherine.

 _(Chin had been in a tree, dangling over a swamp full of angry crocodiles._

 _Kono had been tied to cinder blocks, in a large tank with cold, dirty water rushing in from all sides._

 _Catherine was in the woods unconscious, someone had used her as a punching bag, while a guard held back an angry Wild Cat brought over from Africa illegally.)_

Steve had been told that once he rescued one of his team, he'd get instructions on how to rescue the others.

There was a riddle in each one.

("Deep underground, I am lost.  
Who can find me and at what cost?" was the riddle in Chin's hands when Steve found and rescued him.

"Running out of air, I try to keep afloat,  
perhaps in the darkness, I can find a lifeboat," the words imprinted on the inside of the tank Steve saved Kono from.

"Can't you save me? Won't you try?  
Or will I forever be lost to time?" The words inked on Catherine's skin, settled along her right forearm.)

Steve didn't admit it to any of the rest of his team, but he was scared.

 _Hawaii Five-0~Hawaii Five-0~Hawaii Five-0_

Steve raced to the site the instructions told him to go to.

Danny was still missing, still captured by an insane psychologist, and damn if Steve wished he could've shot the fucker dead.

It was a race against time, Steve against the clock, and Steve was determined to win, desperate to find Danny before time ran out for both of them.

"Danny!" Steve cried, rushing to the site. It was an old cave, somewhere big enough to hold a person, but small enough to give a claustrophobic a Panic attack.

Steve felt an adrenaline boost cause by anger at the thought of Danny's deepest fears being used against him.

(Steve had gotten the story from Danny after they wrapped up the Ellery case. Danny's friend Billy, before the unfortunate death of the boy, had dared him to go down into a fox hole. The fox, thankfully, had long since died, but when the hole was buried by accident, Danny was stuck in there for several hours before someone could get him out. He'd been claustrophobic ever since.)

There were a few whispers in the tunnels, but besides that, no sound came from the cave.

"Danny, you in there?" Steve shouted, plunging himself into the darkness of the cave.

"... eve?" came the weak cry. "St... Steve?"

"Danny!" Steve shouted, following the week voice. God, if Danny was hurt, Steve was going to kill the person who'd done this himself.

"Ste... Steve." Steve found Danny in the back of the cave. A coffin laid underneath him, covering his body entirely.

It was nailed shut.

"Danny!" Steve set to work prying the lid from the wooden prison.

"Steve... Steve, get me outta here. Steve, _please_." Danny's voice was week and wavering and Steve _swore_ he'd kill Wright.

The lid came off easily when pressured by Steve's strength. Danny was trembling as Steve pulled him from the prison he was trapped in.

"Danny, you're safe, I promise." Steve pulled his knife and cut away Danny's restraints.

He caught Danny when the blond man fell, trembling and scared and bleeding, _Jesus_ why was Danny bleeding?

"Steve." Danny whispered his name like a prayer, the word fell from his lips like a waterfall and Steve only hugged Danny tighter to his chest. "You're alright," Steve promised.

Steve didn't know how long they sat there, Steve hugging Danny as tightly as he did when the blonde man got off the Hawaii bound L.A. plane, but it was a long time before Steve could bring himself to move any more than a gentle swaying he couldn't help.

"I thought I'd never see you again." Danny admitted softly.

As Steve took in Danny's rumpled appearance, he shook his head. "Don't worry, Danno. No matter what happens, I'll always find you."

Danny's exhausted sigh spoke of contentment and needed rest, but Steve could feel the smile grace Danny's face even if he couldn't see it.

 _Hawaii Five-0~Hawaii Five-0~Hawaii Five-0_

Catherine Rollins was a smart woman.

She had to be in order to survive her Navy training and the military in general. She had to be, to be able to keep up with Steve McGarrett.

But, her own intelligence sometimes blinded her to what was true. Sometimes her own emotions worked against her, working hard to keep her in the dark about reality.

Like the fact that Steve McGarrett loved her.

But he wasn't _in_ love with her.

It didn't take a genius to figure it out.

Steve didn't go crazy when she was captured. He didn't pace around the Palace like he was scared for her life, even when he knew she could take care of herself. She wasn't the person Steve went to when things got difficult and he couldn't handle life by himself.

The answer to the question of "who" behind all of the things Steve did was _Danny Williams_.

The same name always on the tip of Steve's tongue when they went to a crime scene and "Detective" was the first word that followed, "partner". The name on Steve's mind when things got crazy and guns were involved. The name Steve worried over when Five-0 was cornered or captured or held hostage.

Because, just like Danny when Grace was threatened, Steve also got hotheaded when it was Danny's life on the line.

"How long?" she asked Chin as they watched the paramedics check Danny over.

(Being trapped wasn't any fun anyway, but being trapped while being forced to live through your worst fears over and over and _over_... Well, Catherine almost wished she'd done more than lock Tyrell Thompson in the interrogation rooms.)

Chin, thankfully, didn't need to ask what she was talking about. "They always had a natural chemistry. When they met, it was because they were both hurting; Steve from the Navy and from his Father's death, Danny from moving far away from home and his struggles to be able to see Grace. As they got to know each other and came to an understanding, it developed into a short of crush. _Now,_ it's love, pure and simple."

"When did he fall out of love with me?"

"I've never seen him when he was in love with you, Catherine, I can't answer that."

"Thank you, Chin."

As Catherine left Chin to his own check-up (a bullet clipped his shoulder), she noticed Steve fussing over Danny almost as much as the paramedics where, more even.

She paused to watch, noticing how Danny was just letting Steve and the paramedics fuss over him, which was a rare occurrence.

As the moments passed, she saw Danny take a breath, then let it out; shoulders slumping as he deflated. Something flickered between Steve and Danny as the blonde man's body relaxed.

Steve gently wrapped his arm over Danny's shoulders and Danny leaned into Steve like it was the most natural thing in the world.

(And that was surprising in and of itself because Catherine may know Danny as a loyal, hotheaded man, she'd never once seen him fully relax around anyone but his daughter. And know, apparently, Steve.)

Catherine smiled, watching her lover with the man he loved. Deep in her heart, she thought, she'd always known that it was temporary. Steve was an attentive lover, and kind, and while she may have held his affections once, she certainly didn't now.

Maybe that was why it didn't hurt when Steve broke things off with her the next morning.

It was strange, to see what darkness brought to light.

But as she watched Steve comfort an overwhelmed Danny, she couldn't help but smile and be thankful that darkness had brought the light to both of these men.

 **Set before "Na hala a ka makua (Sins of the Father)".**


End file.
